Tuesday, 02 March 2010 19:14

London ,March 2: An Islamic scholar in London on Tuesday morning issued a comprehensive and written fatwa against terrorism and extremism.

Dr Mohammed Tahir-ul-Qadri, a spiritual and religious leader from Jhang in Pakistan, issued a 600-page edict against terrorists and terrorism to counter any theological justifications for terrorism.

The fatwa will be translated into English and Arabic in the coming weeks, he said, adding that he had written it in Urdu primarily to reach the hearts and minds of Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis affected by the scourge of terrorism.

The Canada-based scholar, who was a friend of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, also warned suicide bombers that they should stop dreaming of glory in heaven as they are “destined for hell.”

“They can’t claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma (the Muslim community), no, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire,” he said.

“There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered Jihad,” said Dr Mohammed Tahir-ul-Qadri, giving examples from the Holy Quran, Hadiths and Sunnah in both Arabic and in English to give support to his fatwa. “The suicide bombings and attacks against civilian targets are not only condemned by Islam but render the perpetrators totally out of the fold of Islam, in other words, to be unbelievers,” added Dr Qadri, 59, who is the founding leader of Minhaj ul Quran International, a worldwide organisation. “Terrorism is not only an act of haram, it is also an act of kufr (disbelief) and this takes terrorists out of the ambit of Islam,” he said, and described terrorists as “dogs of hell.”

Dr Qadri also said that the Prophet Mohammed had condemned terrorists and revealed that a group of violent renegades, known as the Khawarij, had emerged in the name of Islamic rule.

Calling the modern terrorists as Khawarites, Dr Qadri said: “Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good, they cannot convert an evil into good. Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts.”

He also made it clear that nowhere in the Holy Quran or the Hadiths is it said anywhere that the Prophet Mohammed wanted a Caliphate around the world.